Vancouver Island, Powell River Multi-Area Newsletter

Volume 3 Issue 5

May 2017

Vancouver Island & Powell River

24 HOUR HELP LINES

CENTRAL VANCOUVER ISLAND

1.800.494.2404

SOUTH VANCOUVER ISLAND

1.866.664.3511

VANCOUVER ISLAND NORTH & POWELL RIVER

1.844.484.6772

For Additional NA Information

CENTRAL VANCOUVER ISLAND WWW.CVIANA.CA

SOUTH VANCOUVER ISLAND WWW.SVINA.CA

VANCOUVER ISLAND NORTH & POWELL RIVER

WWW.VINPRANA.CA

Narrative: explanation or interpretation of events in accordance with a particular theory, ideology, or point of view

Our

Cake Celebrations in this issue total

185 years or 67,525 Just for Today’s !!

Register at www.svina.ca/news-events.html Registration: $35.00 Meetings, Workshops, Speakers, Yoga, Meditation, Tea/coffee

Full Package: $90.00 Friday Comedy, Saturday Dinner & Dance, Sunday breakfast

Merchandise: Pre-order only Contact convention@svina.ca

Event held at Da Vinci Centre, 195 Bay Street, Victoria Partner Hotel Accent Inns Call (800) 663-0298 by APRIL 5 and quote #524239

4th Annual Picnic in the Park 12 noon to 4:00 pm

Roger Creek Park, Port Alberni

Free Hot Dogs & Pop RAIN OR SHINE

Please bring a Chair & a side Dish

VICTORIA CONVENTION 50 YEARS of NA in Canada from Deadbeats to Dinosaurs

Fill in the blank Find these answers in the “Fifth Edition Basic Text”, Chapter 4

1. “We get ____________ with our understanding of these steps.” (page 28)

2. “Perhaps this _______________ difficult or painful.” (page 29)

3. “We have found that _______________ is a lack of faith…” (page 27)

4. “Addicts tend to live ______________ lives.” (page 32)

5. “Writing will ____________ the lid off of our pressure cooker.” (page 30)

6. “When we pray and take ______________, it always goes better for us.” (page 30)

7. “This step has the ______________ of being difficult; in reality, it is quite simple.” (page 29)

8. “We found that we do not recovery physically, ________ or spiritually overnight.” (page 27)

9. “We have found that fear is a lack of ________, and we have found a loving, personal God

to whom we can turn.” (page 27)

10. “The important thing is that we do our __________.” (page 30)

11. “Although He already knows, the ___________ must come from our own lips be truly

effective.” (page31)

12. “We know that another addict would be less likely to ________us with malice or misun-

derstanding.” (page 31)

Thanks to Kim H for her contribution

Cake Celebration Name #yrs Meeting, Location

Sun Apr 9 Jon W 1 Brass Tacks, Victoria

Sun 9 Sasha M 3 Brass Tacks, Victoria

Thur 13 Adam V 1 Study Group, Victoria

Fri 14 Brandy G 1 Fresh Start, Duncan

Fri 14 Susan C 1 She Unites, Victoria

Mon 17 Brandon S 3 Fresh Start, Duncan

Fri 21 Pam H 10 She Unites, Victoria

Wed 26 Marcella M 19 Fresh Start, Duncan

Fri 28 Stephen S 4 Fresh Start, Duncan

Sun 30 Alex 2 Sunday Serenity, Victoria

Mon May 1 Lacey W 1 It Works for Us, Victoria

Fri 5 Melanie R 3 Pathways to Hope, Langford

Fri 5 Aaron B 4 Pathways to Hope, Langford

Wed 17 Jay 3 Fresh Start, Duncan

Fri 19 Barb V 25 Pathways to Hope, Langford

Fri 26 Stephanie G 3 Pathways to Hope, Langford

Thur Jun 15 Fiona G 2 Regardless of…, Victoria

Meeting Each Month Time Location Next Mtg

Area 3rd Sunday 12:15 pm 919 Pandora St May 21

P & P 3rd Sunday 10:30 am 919 Pandora St May 21

Newsletter 1st Wed 7:00 pm 3100 Tillicum Rd May 3

PR 1st Thursday 6:30 pm 540 Manchester May 4

WiR Campout 2nd Monday 7:00 pm 231 Regina Ave May 8

Salt Spring 3rd Saturday 3:00pm 1701 Government May 20

Lit Email literature@svina.ca for location & details

Provided the source is acknowledged, Narcotics Anonymous (NA) service boards and committees may republish material from Our Narrative. All other rights are re-

served. In keeping with the 10th Tradition of NA, Our Narrative has no opinion on outside issues. Opinions expressed herein are those of the contributors and should

not be taken as those of NA as a whole.

86 Years in Recovery or 31,390 Just for Todays

Perspective So this is my life. Eve-rywhere I turn, it seems that I am al-ways looking in the wrong direction. Fighting this never ending battle is a lot like staring into the depths of a pit of destruction. Slowly, it has consumed me.

What is there left to live for anyway? I ask myself this question on a daily basis, only to replace the thought with another track mark, and a warming sensation of euphoria. Heroin is my only friend, and forever my dying cataclysm. I choose to live this life, and I tell myself that it's all that I am. A seemingly unique indi-vidual in a world fueled by drugs. I can't stop. I won't ever stop.

There comes a time, in the darkest of days, when a small glimpse of light, the most miniscule shred of hope tries to shine through my depressed, over-whelming thoughts. I ask myself for what must have been the thousandth time, What is there left to live for anyway?" "Only this time, I was presented with an answer. One that vastly contrasted anything that I had ever come up with. An answer so uplifting and life changing, that it had to have come from some-thing apart from myself.

I have started a new journey in my life, nothing like I have ever imagined. As a phoenix is reborn from it's ashes, my world is starting to have a dissimilar taste of satisfaction too it. The leaves on the trees are growing greener and more vibrant. The smiles on the faces of my peers are reflections upon my own. The untouched jigsaw puzzle that is my life finally has a few pieces, fit perfectly into place.

The growth I have, and continue to experience is ab-solutely insurmountable to any achievement I have ever accomplished. I am a man, who once thought his path was pre-traced and formulated, only to be blast-ed with the shocking truth; my path is built by the decisions that I make. Today I have a family, friends, people who I love that believe in me. It is only through vigilant work in Narcotics Anonymous, and a sense of vulnerability, that I am able to say that I am eight months clean today. Just for today, I have a re-nowned perception. I am alive.

Thank you Paul H for your submission

Cake Celebra- Name #yr Meeting, Location

Fri Apr 14 Ben K 8 Detour Group, Courtenay

Wed 19 Alan C 16 Port McNeil, Port McNeil

Fri 28 Greg G 25 Port Hardy, Port Hardy

Sun 39 Margaret C 18 Share & Care, Campbell River

Mon May 1 Dan W 5 Unity Group, Courtenay

Mon 15 Kyla W 2 Unity Group, Courtenay

Submissions Release/Waiver By the act of submitting my material for publishing, I am confirming that I posses full legal capacity to exercise this authorization and hereby release Our Narrative, NA, its service boards or committees from any harm by myself, my successors, and/or my assigns. I acknowledge that by the act of my submitting any material for publishing in this newsletter, that I give the Narcotics Anonymous Fellowship, The newsletter, their successors, assigns and those acting on their authority, permission to publish the submitted material. Narcotics Anony-mous Fellowship, Our Narrative newsletter, their successors, assigns and those acting on their authority will make every effort to assure my anonymity. I further agree to allow the editing of any original submitted material to suit the language of NA and I understand that any article I submit, whether by physical written submission or electronic document format of any kind, automatically be-comes the physical property of Our Narrative and will not be returned to me.

Meeting Each Month Time Location Next Mtg

Area 3rd Sunday 10:15 am Halbe Hall, Black Creek May 21

PR 3rd Thurs 6:45 pm Eureka Club, Courtenay May 18

Campout 2nd Sunday 7:00 pm Alano Club May 14

74 Years in Recovery or 27,010 Just for Todays

Friday June 30 to Monday July 3, 2017

link river park & campground Approximately 10 kilometres east of Port Alice on Alice Lake at the confluence of the Link River

Friday June 30 to Monday July 3, 2017

link river park & campground Approximately 10 kilometres east of Port Alice on Alice Lake at the confluence of the Link River

Thursday June 29 to Monday July 3, 2017

Link River Park & Campground

Approximately 10 kilometres east of Port Alice on Alice Lake at the confluence of the Link River

More will be revealed in the next issue of Our NArrative

MARK YOUR CALENDARS

PEOPLE!!

In Step Six, the Basic Text reminds us,

“Being human we will wander off course.” We don’t always notice when we’re wandering: This is the great challenge for many of us in practicing medita-tion, or even sitting in a meeting. Just staying in our seat without checking our phone or creating side conversation can be surprisingly difficult, especially when we are having feelings we’d rather avoid. Tradition Six suggest that the things that divert us are mostly those we use to feed our self-obsession. When we let go of the illusion that things outside ourselves will fill that empty placed inside, we can stop distorting tools into weapons we turn on our-selves.

The better we get at staying present with the things that truly matter to us, the more able we are to understand our Higher Power’s will for us and find the power to carry that out. One way to start is to recognize that the newcomer really matters to us, and that it’s up to us to ensure that the message comes through.

When we resist the impulse to get diverted, to wan-der off course, we are present for the miracle. The life we save might be our own.

Guiding Principles: The Spirit of our Traditions, page 98

Meeting Each

Month Time Location

Next Meeting

Area 2nd Sunday 10:00 am 596 Albert St, Nanaimo May 14

GSR 2nd Sunday 9:30 am 596 Albert St, Nanaimo May 14

Activities 1st Sunday 7:00 pm 596 Albert St, Nanaimo May 6

PR 1st Friday 6:00 pm 596 Albert St, Nanaimo May 5

Campout Last Friday 6:00 pm 596 Albert St, Nanaimo Apr 28

Cake Celebration Name yrs Meeting, Location

Sun Apr 9 Angel 1 Visons of Hope, Port Alberni

Sat 15 Gerry M 1 Steps to Serenity, Nanaimo

Sat 22 Libby B 2 Celebrate or Suffer, Parksville

Tue 25 Marcel C 3 Just Do It, Nanaimo

Sat 29 Nan S 15 Red Road to Recovery, Nanai-

Sat May 6 Ashley M 2 Steps to Serenity, Nanaimo

Sun 28 Aurora A 1 New Beginnings, Nanaimo

25 Years in Recovery or 9,125 Just for Todays

Nature of Recovery campout

NANAIMO LAKES CAMPGROUND

DEADWOOD CAMPSITE JUNE 23, 24, 25, 26

$30 each for full weekend $10 each for Saturday (includes dinner)

Children 12 and under free CONTACT CAMPOUT@CVIANA.CA for info

Join us for a totally unplugged campout

Creative Action of the Spirit

As we gain more confidence in our spirituality,

we become more willing to improvise, not only in

our spiritual practice, but in the way we live. We

become will to do the right thing and to let go of

fear. We go from simply showing up and re-

porting for duty each day to a willingness to

serve the greater good in the best way we can.

We start by following suggestions, and progress

to doing the right things for the right reasons.

We can stop there - but if we are willing to strive

for more, we have the opportunity to exceed our

greatest expectations for ourselves. Our experi-

ence settles a lot of our ambivalence about spirit-

uality. We can just go ahead and have the rela-

tionship with our Higher Power without worrying

so much about the things we don’t know how or

understand. Each time an experience reawakens

us, we are more aware of the power nudging us

to wake up to our lives.

Living Clean, The Journey Continues, page 78

Saturday May 20

8:30 pm

Brechin United Church

998 Estevan Rd, Nanaimo